‘Grit’ exhibition highlights artists’ perseverance at Echo Contemporary

A new art exhibition adorning the walls of Echo Contemporary Art, located within Guardian Studios at Echo Street West, was unveiled to the public last night. Grit is a group show that offers a variety of works by local artists spanning painting, illustration, sculpture, installation, tech-driven works and even a quilt by legendary local artist Evereman. ArtsATL was in attendance during the opening night reception and got some insight into the curation process and programming planned for this week-long exhibition. 

“We were thinking that to be an artist you need to have a lot of virtues: you need vision; you need talent; you need consistency,” said Alfonso Alday Vergara, Grit co-curator and co-founder and CEO of Alday Hunken Gallery in Mexico City. “
I feel like there is this idea — especially with social media — that we try to show everything as effortless. People always try to look like everything is easy and comes easy, but I feel that grit is that one virtue that every single artist that really wants or needs to create requires.”

Based loosely around the theme of grit — which could also be referred to as perseverance — and curated via open invitation for participating artists to select works that they felt fit the concept, the result is a varied and inclusive showcase of local talent.

“I loved the mix of artists and the unusual group of people and artists of the Atlanta community,” said participating artist Jeffrey Wilcox Paclipan, who displayed several works in the exhibition, including a large piece titled Confetti Sky Radiant Ernie. “I loved the concept of Grit — making work no matter what circumstances and not only for money.”

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I think the key to art is connection. I mean, even the way we interact with or enjoy art — it’s a two-person dance, right? If someone presents a piece and somebody enjoys that piece, that translates in the same way to how artists should work together, too,” said Vergara. His approach is centered around building connections between artists and bridging the gaps he sees in Atlanta’s flourishing art scene. Noting that many who frequent one area’s galleries may not attend exhibitions in other parts of the city, he aims to provide opportunities for new collaborations through exhibitions and community-building programming. 

“We try to do what we call ‘hypercurations,’ where we curate the space to the works instead of the works to the space. As we see, there’s a massive shift infrastructurally in the way galleries work; it doesn’t make sense to spend thousands upon thousands of dollars on rent,” said Vergara. “We’d rather invest that money in production for our artists.”

“It was one of those dream-come-true moments for me last night to see so many wonderful and talented people gathered in celebration of good art,” said Art Share founder Melanie Shaw, the Grit co-curator who partnered with Alday Hunken Gallery and Kyle McNeill, aka BignPasty, to bring about the exhibition.

She highlighted the rest of the week’s activities, including an artists’ conversation to discuss art-making practices on Thursday night and a live music set performed by Shaw’s husband’s jazz trio on Friday night. Saturday’s programming includes music performances, a jam session and open mic and a panel discussion with Hayley Smith, director of the SCOPE Art Show; Plushette Ellis, founder and CEO of Artistic Logistics, who also serves as economic business development chair for Castleberry Hill; and Brandon Sheats, executive director of Burnaway, at 6 p.m. 

“I have packed my favorite things into this special event,” said Shaw. “We have leaned fully into our mission to unite people and inspire collective action toward a more connected and positive society.”

Following the close of the Grit exhibition at Echo Contemporary, the team will present an all-photo exhibition titled Grit Photo at Clarkson Community Center from October 27 through November 1 and an additional week on view at 1039 Marietta St. from November 2 through November 8.

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Isadora Pennington is senior editor of art + design and dance. An experienced writer and photographer with a deep love for the arts, Isadora founded the Sketchbook newsletter with Rough Draft Atlanta in 2022. She is also president of the Avondale Arts Alliance and director of the Avondale Arts Center.